The 51st annual Snoopy House display ended with another successful year of bringing holiday cheer and joy to Costa Mesa residents and beyond.

The event, which ran from Dec. 14 through Dec. 23, drew about 8,000 total visitors to the display, which sits on the front lawn of City Hall. The provided hot apple cider and took 2,000 photos of children and families posing with Santa Claus.

There were eight performances by Newport-Mesa school groups and 12 non-profit youth groups sold treats raising $3,000. And this year, a new facility called Brad’s Bungalow was added to the display (pictured above) that allowed children to color and write letters to Santa Clause. The bungalow was informally named after longtime city employee Brad Long, who passed away near the Thanksgiving holiday and who was a huge Snoopy House fan. A total of 2,500 letters were written to St. Nick in the bungalow.

Snoopy house would not be possible without the hard work of the city’s facilities and maintenance workers as well as the planning and dedication of Dan Baker, Jennifer Christ and McKenna Ewing from the City Manager’s office. Special thanks to the four volunteer Santa Claus helpers who pitched in, which included Council Member John Stephens and city employees Andy Godinez, Tony Dodero and Dan Baker.

Public Services Maintenance staff completed improvements to Presidio Square.

The goal of this project is to deter vehicle traffic from entering the wrong way or parking in the no parking, red curb area.

The delineation will better define the driving lane and increase safety for pedestrian traffic walking to Davis Elementary School and TeWinkle Park as Presidio Square is used predominantly as a drop off area by school busses and parents for the surrounding schools.

The city of Costa Mesa has now added a John Wayne Airport flight tracking system to the Airport Noise and Concerns page on the city’s main website.

That page can be seen here.

By viewing the flight tracker, website viewers can track arriving and departing flights by airline, altitude, destination and more.

Click here to see the tracking system. 

City officials will continue to monitor issues regarding aircraft noise and increasing traffic reported by residents and will continue to be engaged at the regional level to advocate for protecting Costa Mesa.

On Nov. 22 the city released a Request for Proposals (RFP) for a new Land Management System software program.

The city’s Land Management System rests at the core of all data related to building permits, entitlements, code enforcement cases and general plan zoning, and specific plan amendment applications and more.

The Land Management System is used every day to enter, retrieve, or update thousands of records. The city’s current system is old and in need of replacement, so a project management consulting team has been retained to guide the city through the selection of a new system.

To ensure its broadest use and functionality, a stakeholder group spanning all city departments conducted workshops with the project management consultants to develop a project scope to meet the disparate needs of multiple city departments.

The RFP is open until Jan. 3, 2018. Staff provided a longer window than normal for applicants to respond due to the holiday season. Release of the RFP represents a major step forward in the update of this critical information system. Goals for the new software system include greater connectivity, enhanced analytical abilities, and easier data entry and retrieval.

This process will continue to require time and attention throughout the city, however, the update is critical and will allow city staff to better serve the public through speed, efficiencies and advanced technologies, and the city will have the flexibility to add increased functionality in the future. Stay tuned for more updates in this exciting process.

OCTA launched a fully interactive, mobile-friendly resource for the I-405 Improvement Project.

Click here to view this map.

Users can click on a location to see when construction is anticipated to start and find details on any current pre-construction activities planned in the area. The newly launched map currently features preliminary construction activities that are happening now.

When construction officially commences in early 2018, users can explore the project area in real time, view both planned improvements and current construction activities for each bridge, as well as, updated closure and detour information.

When construction officially commences in early 2018, users can explore the project area in real time, view both planned improvements and current construction activities for each bridge, as well as, updated closure and detour information

Gifts are flooding in for the 1/5 Marines Toy drive.Volunteers have collected well over four boxes full with plenty of time still left to contribute.

The city of Costa Mesa and the Costa Mesa Military Affairs Team are currently seeking donations of new, unwrapped toys for the children of the city’s adopted 1st Battalion 5th Marine Regiment.

The collected toys will be given to the children at the Marine unit’s annual Christmas Carnival held at Camp Pendleton.

Donations can be dropped off at City Hall in the foot locker located in the first floor lobby until Friday, Dec. 8, 2017.

Click here for more information.

Students from The Architectural Technology program at Orange Coast College volunteered at Snoopy house this past weekend and provided some much-need assistance with some of the more complex moving pieces associated with Snoopy and the Gang.

The Architectural program offers courses in design, building materials, construction documents, design graphics, and computer-assisted design and drafting and provides students with the discipline and critical thinking skills.

Members of the Costa Mesa Fire & Rescue Honor Guard, which includes Capt. Mike Hurd, Capt. Fred McDowell, Engineer John Brock, and Capt. Chris Coates, along with Fire Chief Dan Stefano and Division Chief Jason Pyle, joined with members from all of the fire agencies in Orange County to pay tribute and honor the fire service members who passed away in 2017.

The Costa Mesa fire family honored former firefighters Scott Coykendall, Paul Durham and Archie Y. Locke.

The annual memorial event usually takes place each year in October at the Orange County Fire Service Memorial in Santa Ana, but this year it was rescheduled later because of the wildfires.

Public Services maintenance staff performed roof repairs and completed a window film replacement project at the Mesa Verde Branch Library over the Thanksgiving holiday closure.

The roof repairs addressed the deteriorating metal edge around the facility’s perimeter and provided preventative maintenance to the existing roof.

The window film replacement project removed a variety of different types of existing window film tints that presented an overall miss matched interior and exterior. The library’s windows were then applied with an energy efficient window film tint that provides an overall aesthetic and functional improvement to the library. Both projects occurred simultaneously and were completed during the holiday closure.

Public Services recently began the process of upgrading the coyote warning signs citywide at 75 locations.

The old green sign had excessive text in a small font that was difficult to read. The new sign has updated information and is easier to read.

The sign will also have an interactive Coyote Cacher web site link. The Coyote Cacher program is part of a research project with the University of California Irvine Cooperative Extension that aims to collect data on coyote encounters across California.

Click here to access the Coyote Cacher.

The Coyote Cacher is a quick and convenient way for residents and park patrons to report coyote sightings in their neighborhoods.

Costa Mesa Fire & Rescue was the co-lead agency to facilitate a countywide trench rescue class where several specialized rescue teams met to review the latest protocols related to trench rescues.

Trench rescues are a low frequency, high-risk emergency where the potential for first responder injury is heightened.

Crews practiced putting shores in place in order to affect a rescue of a victim trapped.